New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with leaders of national African-American organizations and others, today announced a national campaign to repeal “Stand Your Ground” laws that have passed in 25 states.

As Care2 reported here, Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” provision, otherwise known as “Shoot First,” is at the center of the firestorm surrounding the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

But as many concerned citizens have pointed out, 17-year-old Trayvon was only one of many homicides that have taken place under similar circumstances in the U.S.

From Bloomberg’s official announcement:

The campaign – “Second Chance on Shoot First” – will focus on convincing state legislators who have supported shoot first laws to join the growing movement to reform or repeal these dangerous laws. The National Rifle Association drafted Florida’s law in 2005 and helped enact similar versions in other states, eventually bringing the total to 25 states by 2010 and those states have seen sharp increases in justifiable homicides.

“Stand Your Ground” laws allow people who feel threatened to use deadly force—even if they have an opportunity, as Zimmerman did, to safely avoid a confrontation. The law allows use of deadly force by someone who simply feels threatened by another, even when confrontation is avoidable. Zimmerman has claimed self-defense even though Martin was unarmed.

Corporate Corruption continues as CEOs are paid multi-million dollar bonuses for Bankrupting their respective corporations.
When average workers fuck up time and again they get fired but CEOs the more they fuck-up the bigger the Bonus.
CEO Bankruptcy Bonus-Cenk Uygur at TYT The Young Turks

Benjamin Franklin, who used his many talents to become a wealthy man, famously said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. But if you’re a corporate CEO in America today, even they can be put on the back burner – death held at bay by the best medical care money can buy and the latest in surgical and life extension techniques, taxes conveniently shunted aside courtesy of loopholes, overseas investment and governments that conveniently look the other way.

In a story headlined, “For Big Companies, Life Is Good,” The Wall Street Journal reports that big American companies have emerged from the deepest recession since World War II more profitable than ever: flush with cash, less burdened by debt, and with a greater share of the country’s income. But, the paper notes, “Many of the 1.1 million jobs the big companies added since 2007 were outside the U.S. So, too, was much of the $1.2 trillion added to corporate treasuries.”

To add to this embarrassment of riches, the consumer group Citizens for Tax Justice reports that more than two dozen major corporations — including GE, Boeing, Mattel and Verizon — paid no federal taxes between 2008 and 2011. They got a corporate tax break that was broadly supported by Republicans and Democrats alike.

Corporate taxes today are at a 40-year-low — even as the executive suites at big corporations have become throne rooms where the crown jewels wind up in the personal vault of the CEO

We’re quickly approaching the two-year anniversary of the tragic BP oil spill: An environmental disaster that left the normally sparkling beaches of the Gulf Coast drowning in a slick of toxic oil.

As thousands of gallons of crude oil seeped into the Gulf from the decimated Macondo well, poisoning the water and seafood that lived in those shallow waters, BP decided that the best course of action would be to crop dust the entire area with a dispersant called Corexit (despite the EPA’s direct order not to do so).

All of BP’s actions, both during and after the spill, were nothing more than a weak attempt to make their mess go away as soon as possible. They didn’t care that the dispersants only made the oil harder to see (rather than actually degrading it) or the fact that the combination of oil and dispersants would create a massive health risk for the hundreds of families who’s businesses were destroyed by the spill.

Since the media has stopped paying attention to the after-effects of the oil spill, BP has launched a nauseating public relations campaign that claims the Gulf Coast is as good as new, and perfectly safe for tourists.

In the video below, you can watch multiple Gulf Coast families talk about how the spill has affected the health of their children, friends and family members. Once you’ve watched it, tell us how eager you are to book that Gulf Coast vacation.

BP and Big Oil and its defenders including Team Obama downplay environmental and human costs which is not over but will continue for years to come.
During this disaster in the Gulf the public became aware that the emergency measures the Oil Companies had put in place in case of such a disaster were woefully inadequate as there was little or no government oversight on the thousands of ocean rigs deployed in the region.

BP’s 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill is still affecting the lives of many Americans, particularly the tens of thousands that have not settled lawsuits with the company. Yet the company has bounced back from the billions it lost in the wake of the spill.

BP announced today that its 2011 profit totaled $26 billion, a 114 percent jump from the year before, when the company’s “failure of supervision and accountability” caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history. As the company prepares for its upcoming criminal trial, let’s take a look at how BP has made out after the Deepwater Horizon disaster:

BP earned $3 million every hour in 2011. Its fourth-quarter profits reached $7.69 billion, which is up 38 percent from 2010.
The company is sitting on another $14 billion in cash.

The company continues to scale back its production in the wake of the spill, producing 10 percent less than 2010 levels.
BP contributions to federal candidates totaled more than $98,000 in 2011, with more than half (65 percent) to Republican candidates.

BP spent $8 million lobbying Congress in 2011, down from the record $15 million the company lobbied in 2009 – one year before the oil disaster.

For every dollar the big five oil companies use in lobbying, they effectively receive $30 in subsidies. This could mean BP potentially gained up to $243 million in subsidies, although the exact amount for an individual company is undisclosed.

In the third quarter, BP’s Bob Dudley announced the company had reached a “definite turning point” of boosted profits. However, nearly two years following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP has still only paid $7.8 billion of the $20 billion fund they created to compensate individuals and businesses for losses incurred by the spill.

In order to pay the $40 billion cleanup costs and additional penalties, the company has committed to selling $38 billion worth of assets before 2014.

Despite being found “ultimately responsible” for the most devastating oil spill this nation has ever seen, BP has spent millions lobbying on bills that would speed offshore drilling and leases. This includes filing a total 24 reports on bills undermining safety regulation in the Gulf of Mexico, H.R. 1231 “Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act” and H.R. 1229 “Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act.”

At the time, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar accused House Republicans of having “amnesia” about the oil spill. No doubt the total $137 billion profits in 2011 for the five big oil companies had something to do with it.